Uber driver in East Bay allegedly kidnapped, attempted to rape two women

Gebrele Amare was arrested by Berkeley police last week after allegedly trapping two women in his car in an attempt to rape them, forcing one woman to jump from his moving car near a busy intersection, authorities said.

Photo: Berkeley Police Department /

An Uber driver was arrested by Berkeley police last week after allegedly trapping two women in his car in an attempt to rape them, forcing one woman to jump from his moving car near a busy intersection, authorities said.

Gebrele Amare, 23, was booked into the Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of kidnapping to commit a sex crime and sexual battery.

Amare, an Oakland resident, was driving for Uber when he picked up a woman in Berkeley around 5:30 a.m. on May 2, court documents said. Amare told the woman, who was on her way to work, that she couldn’t leave his car or use her phone and that he would instead take her to a room before going to her workplace, authorities said. The victim pleaded with Amare to let her out of the car and when he refused, she opened the door and jumped from the car while Amare sped up near the intersection of Ashby and Telegraph avenues, police said.

“That’s one of our busiest intersections, because the hospital’s a block away,” said Byron White, a spokesman for the Berkeley Police Department.

About two hours later, around 7:40 a.m., Amare allegedly picked up a woman who hailed a ride in Oakland and touched her thigh, documents said. The woman demanded to be let out and attempted to unlock the doors, but Amare kept the doors locked, authorities said. He let her out of the car when she threatened to break his window, according to court records.

Both victims identified Amare in a photo line-up, police said.

Amare was removed as a driver for Uber on May 2, when the women reported him.

“What the riders reported is deeply troubling. Upon learning of this, we removed the driver’s access to the app and stand ready to assist police in their investigation,” the company said in a statement.

Amare told authorities he had kidnapped the first woman to have sex with her and “wanted to pimp her,” court records said. He allegedly admitted to speeding up when she tried to escape so that she would stay in the vehicle.

Amare denied the second incident, court records said. He is being held without bail until a plea hearing May 23.

Ashley McBride covers breaking news on The Chronicle's metro desk as a Hearst Journalism Fellow. Previously, she worked as an interactive learning producer and editor at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., and as a web producer at the Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, Fla. She graduated with a master's degree in journalism from Syracuse University and completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Miami. A Tampa, Fla., native, Ashley enjoys cooking, reading and listening to podcasts in her spare time.